free-range politics, organic community

John Bolton Greenlights Indian Military Attack on Pakistan

Submitted by wendy davis on Sun, 02/17/2019 - 6:14pm

(click for larger)

When I’d first seen this report at aljazeera.com yesterday, I’d wondered about its accuracy, bias, etc: ‘‘India considers action against Pakistan after suicide attack, India’s foreign ministry said US supports New Delhi’s right to self-defence against cross-border attacks, aljazeera.com (with video featuring Sir Namasté Modi), but I’d also seen the Nuclear Clock even closer to midnight, as this seemingly intractable Elephant in the Room, Kashmir, between two nuclear powers…looming once again.

“Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called the meeting to build support for action against Pakistan following a deadly car bombing in the disputed Kashmir region that raised tensions with its neighbour.

Earlier, India’s foreign ministry has said the United States supports New Delhi’s right to self-defence against cross-border attacks following the Kashmir incident.

In a readout released on Saturday, the foreign ministry said US National Security Adviser John Bolton spoke to his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, on Friday night, promising to help bring those behind the attack to justice.

“The two NSAs vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan cease to be a safe haven for JeM and terrorist groups that target India, the US and others in the region,” the foreign ministry said.

“They resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under UNresolutions.

India‘s government said it had evidence that JeM had Pakistan’s backing and demanded Islamabad take action, escalating the already-tense relationship between the neighbours.”

The article goes on to report that Pakistan had condemned the attack, and that the Pakistani FM Tehmina Janjua held a meeting with Ambassadors from the US, China, Russia, and France to ‘to push back against India’s accusations’, and quoted Janjua as having said that it was a familiar reflexive pattern from India: blaming Pakistan without investigations.

India has for years accused Pakistan of backing separatist groups in divided Kashmir, which the neighbours both claim in full but rule in part.

The sources said representatives from Germany, Hungary, Italy, Canada, EU, Britain, Russia, Israel, Australia, Japan, Sweden, France, the P-5, all Asian nations, etc. and reports that ‘all heads of Mission were left in no doubt that Pakistan based and supported the MeJ, and that Pakistan cease all support for terrorist groups under their control ‘sources said’.
(Sorry, the site doesn’t support copy/paste for some reason.)

From outlookindia.com Feb. 17: ‘Fear, Tension Grip Kashmir As Students Complain Of Attacks In Other States; Kashmiri students and businessmen are complaining of being attacked in various states of the country in the aftermath of Pulwama terrorist attack.

“Kashmir Valley observed a complete strike on Sunday as Kashmir Traders Federation has given a call to protest against attacks on Kashmiris in Jammu and other parts of the country.“With politicians, police and media persons getting calls from desperate students and businessmen that they be rescued, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday met the Union Home Minister in New Delhi and sought his intervention.

Sehrish, 25, a student from Kashmir, studying in Dehradun earlier in the day, said that they were attacked by the mob and asked to leave immediately. “We do not know where to go. We are inside the hostel and outside the mob has gathered. They are shouting slogans against us and giving us threats. We do not know what will happen. We want to go home but don’t know how we will go. Some of us have not even told our families,” she said adding that some fellow students from other states were protecting them from the mob.

Another student said that they were thrashed and forced out of their rented accommodation. ” We are hiding. The atmosphere is very fearful. We fear we might be attacked outside, ” he said. “The landlord told us to leave else his house will be brunt.”

More personal experiences were told, Tweets galore offering shelter from the storm, then this at the end:

“Separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said that he is deeply distressed by reports of continued attacks on Kashmiri’s in Jammu and other places by “communal goons let loose.” “Those in charge are obliged to ensure the safety and security of Kashmiri’s is not compromised with at a time when anti-Kashmir rhetoric has been ratcheted up,” he said.While as London based Kashmiri novelist, Waheed Mirza says, “The venom on the streets was brewed in some TV studios.”

‘Indian government seizes on Kashmir attack to ratchet up tensions with Pakistan’, Deepal Jayasekera, 16 February 2019, wsws.org

“Speaking yesterday, Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister and the head of the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP), held Pakistan responsible for the attack. He then vowed that India will make “the terror outfits and those aiding and abetting them …. pay a heavy price.”

“Let me assure the nation,” Modi continued, “those behind this attack, the perpetrators of this attack will be punished.” He said his government has given India’s security forces “complete freedom of action.”

He adds that the suicide bombing was allegedly carried out by 20-year-old Kashmir laborer Adil Ahmed Dar, who’d grown up only a mile or two from the site of bomb blast. His parents had said that Dar had been radicalized after he and some of his friends had been arrested and tortured three years ago as they were walking home from school.

“Modi has repeatedly boasted that the cross-border military strikes he ordered on Pakistan in September 2016 in retaliation for a terror attack on an Indian army base in Jammu and Kashmir, have freed India from the shackles of “strategic restraint.”

Seeking to whip up war-fever, Modi declared yesterday: “The blood of the people is boiling… Our neighbouring country, which has been isolated internationally, is in a state of illusion, [and] thinks such terror attacks can destabilise us, but their plans will not materialise.” [snip]

In recent months, the Modi government has been shaken by growing worker and farmer protests—including a two-day nationwide general strike in January in which tens of millions participated.

Moreover, in December the BJP suffered electoral defeats in three Hindi-heartland states that hitherto were among its strongest bastions. This has placed a large question mark over whether the BJP will prevail in the national elections to be held in multiple phases this April and May.

Yesterday, the BJP and its Hindu extremist allies organised protests in several cities, including New Delhi, at which demands for military action against Pakistan were raised.”

Jayasekera notes that none of the opposition parties objected to the calls for India’s geo-political stands against Pakistan, including Modi’s ‘surgical strikes in 2016’ when the two nations teetered on the brink of nuclear war’, and that the Stalinist Communist Party (CPM) ‘have issued only tepid criticisms of the BJP government’s brutal crackdown on popular opposition in Kashmir, India’s only Muslim majority state, and its belligerent stand against Pakistan’.

He writes that divided Kashmir has its roots in the 1947 communal partition of the subcontinent into a Muslim Pakistan and a Hindu-dominated India as the British colonial overlords were exiting, the rival communally-based wings were ‘led respectively by the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress.”

I can’t speak to that formula, but he writes that later Kashmir divided ‘by intrigue and war’ into the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-held Azad Kashmir. Jayasekera also contends that the elites of both India and Pakistan ride roughshod over the rights of the Kashmiri people, and that Pakistan has manipulated the opposition and promoted Islamist insurgent groups in a bid to undermine rival India.’

Again, I’m agnostic on that, but in none of this coverage was there a repeated call to hold the UNSC’s 1047 mandate to hold a plebiscite election for self-determination, approved by Nehru long ago, and I’d thought promised by Modi as well. You’ll likely find the history at kashmirwatch.com.

He finishes:

“Adding to the explosiveness of the situation is the US drive to harness India to its military-strategic offensive against China. As a result, the Indo-Pakistan conflict has become increasingly enmeshed with rising US-China tensions, with New Delhi allied with Washington and Islamabad with Beijing.”

I’d add that Modi’s India’s population is 1.4 billion, and recently US/Indian bilateral trade is brisk, and Amerika’s ninth largest trading partner, having exported $25.7 billion of goods to India in 2017, according to the US Trade Representative website. You may recall that Modi had been denied a visa by the State Department in 2002 for alleged genocide in Gujararat Province while he was governing it, and was allowed to return in 2012, then again in 2015 when according to the WaPO:

“Modi returned to the United States for the second time [accompanied by Tulsi Gabbard], this time to meet with Silicon Valley leaders such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai to win support for his Digital India campaign, a plan to link millions of Indians with the Internet and digital government services.” His tour guide and charm offensive for both visits were handled by Tulsi Gabbard, who, according to progressivearmy.com’s ‘In Defense of Tulsi Gabbard’:

“Soumya Shankar, however, highlights valid concerns such as Gabbard’s opposition to House Resolution 417 which chided India to protect “the rights and freedoms of religious minorities” and recommended that Modi should continue to be denied a U.S. Visa. This was a response to Modi’s negligence in the 2002 Gujarat riots which claimed over a thousand lives, most of them Muslims. Gabbard opposed the [2013, Intercept link w/ her Hindustani contributors] resolution, arguing that it “weakens, rather than strengthens, the friendship between the United States and India.” Gabbard also downplayed Modi’s involvement, stating that there is a lot of misinformation. I disagree with Gabbard, and her comments should be challenged. Despite a lack of evidence, Modi maintained that a Muslim mob attacked the Godhra train that sparked the violence. Fareed Zakaria also opines that “[i]t is a dark episode in India’s history, and Modi comes out of it tainted.” But Zakaria agrees with Gabbard’s position, saying that denying Modi a visa “has been selective, arbitrary and excessive.”

To Tulsi Gabbard’s credit, she is starting to distance herself from far-right Hindu nationalists when she decided to withdraw from Chair of the World Hindu Congress. Soumya Shankar reports that “[d]ispleasure with Gabbard’s recusal from the World Hindu Congress was widespread.”

At least the WaPo’s coverage had included these paragraphs in their Feb. 15 AP coverage, ‘India warns of ‘crushing response’ to Kashmir suicide attack’:

“Pakistan’s ruling party rejected Modi’s allegation, saying India’s governing party was blaming Islamabad for political gains in the upcoming national election. “The Indian allegations against Pakistan over yesterday’s incident are part of the election campaign,” said Naeemul Haq, a senior leader of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which came to power in last year’s parliamentary election. He said the violence in Kashmir was “the result of the brutalities of Indian occupied forces in Kashmir.”

“Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the country condemns acts of violence anywhere in the world and denied any involvement. “We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations,” it said in a statement.

Rebels, many of whom want Kashmir united with Pakistan, have been fighting Indian control since 1989. But the Muslim-majority region has experienced renewed attacks and repeated public protests in recent years as a new generation of Kashmiri rebels, especially in the southern parts of the region, has challenged New Delhi’s rule with a mixture of violence and social media.”

But let’s hear from Arundhati Roy and her ‘Arundhati Roy: #Me Too Urban Naxal, To be lynched is a crime. To be poor is a crime. To defend the poor is to plot to overthrow the government.’ at scroll.in, Aug. 2018

New Delhi: Writer and activist Arundhati Roy addresses a press conference on the recent crackdown on rights activists, in New Delhi on Thursday, Aug 30, 2018.

A few outtakes from a lengthy and fascinating piece:

“Recent analyses of real voter data as well the Lokniti-CSDS-ABP Mood of the Nation survey have shown that the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are losing popularity at an alarming pace (for them). This means that we are entering dangerous times. There will be ruthless and continuous attempts to divert attention from the reasons for this loss of popularity, and to fracture the growing solidarity of the opposition. It will be a continuous circus from now to the elections – arrests, assassinations, lynchings, bomb attacks, false flag attacks, riots, pogroms. We have learned to connect the season of elections with the onset of all kinds of violence. Divide and Rule, yes. But add to that – Divert and Rule. From now until the elections, we will not know from when, and where and how the fireball will fall on us, and what the nature of that fireball will be. So, before I speak about the arrests of lawyers and activists, let me just reiterate a few points that we must not allow our attention to stray from, even while it rains fire, and strange events befall us.”

She then describes the disastrous effects for small businesses and the poor of Modi’s demonetization (cashless society) scheme, the burgeoning wealth of the BJP, the speed at which educational facilities including universities are being dismantled, the ‘re-Brahminisation of colleges, then number 5:

“5. Massive distress in the agricultural sector, increasing numbers of farmers’ suicides, the lynching of Muslims and the relentless attack on Dalits, the public floggings, the arrest of Chandrashekhar Azad, leader of the Bhim Army who dared to stand up to attacks by Upper castes. The attempt to dilute the Scheduled caste and Scheduled Tribes Atrocity Act.”

“It has been important for governments, both the Congress-led UPA and the BJP to disguise their attacks on Adivasis, and now, in the case of the BJP, their attack on Dalits – as an attack on “Maoists” or “Naxals.” This is because, unlike in the case of Muslims who have been almost been erased from electoral arithmetic, all political parties do have an eye on those Adivasi and Dalit constituencies as potential vote banks. By arresting activists and calling them “Maoists’, the Government manages to undermine and insult Dalit aspiration by giving it another name—while at the same time appearing to be sensitive to “Dalit issues.” Today, as we speak, there are thousands of people in jail across the country, poor and disadvantaged people, fighting for their homes, for their lands, for their dignity—people accused of sedition and worse, languishing without trial in crowded prisons.”

“God help us to get our country back.”

Arundhati RoyAugust 30th 2018

You get the gist, but she supports the Kashmiri plebiscite for the obvious reasons, and has been threatened to be arrested for sedition for stating her views in public. My guess is that Democracy Now! will have Ms. Roy on again soon.

With nearly 1000 military bases (or at least outposts) in over 100 nations, the US pretty much has its nose in every tent. Further, I believe India and the US have an agreement that allows the US military to use Indian bases.

Further, if Bolton is involved, war is the first option. If there's one thing Bolton is all about, it's war.

“The two NSAs vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan cease to be a safe haven for JeM and terrorist groups that target India, the US and others in the region”

With nearly 1000 military bases (or at least outposts) in over 100 nations, the US pretty much has its nose in every tent. Further, I believe India and the US have an agreement that allows the US military to use Indian bases.

Further, if Bolton is involved, war is the first option. If there's one thing Bolton is all about, it's war.

up

9 users have voted.

—

America is a pathetic nation; a fascist state fueled by the greed, malice, and stupidity of her own people.
- strife delivery

With nearly 1000 military bases (or at least outposts) in over 100 nations, the US pretty much has its nose in every tent. Further, I believe India and the US have an agreement that allows the US military to use Indian bases.

Further, if Bolton is involved, war is the first option. If there's one thing Bolton is all about, it's war.

so absurd and abject a psyop: the US and others, etc. If there's one thing that bolton believes in, it's War. it make my stomach hurt, what he's risking, so i've been up since before first light putting this together.

tick, tock, nuclear clock. jayzus.

the warsaw bomb iran summit, pence at the munich summit...followed by this. given that the other comments are for you, i'll shut down for the night, and see y'all in the a.m.

guess for a closing lullaby, i'll go with the playing for change house band in australia covering peter tosh's 'jah guide', may it send us good dreams as we sleep. makes my eyes tear just to hear it...

on morning edit: i should have said for those who may not know that tosh was rastafarian, and helped bob marley form 'the wailers'. in rasta-speak, the western empire is 'the great satan, babylon', hence: café babylon.

“The two NSAs vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan cease to be a safe haven for JeM and terrorist groups that target India, the US and others in the region”

of the WHC? This guy has been all over her. I think we know why she's running.

“Representative Gabbard’s deep ties to agents of a violent religious nationalist political party and the paramilitary groups which control it suggests that India’s supremacists have infiltrated America and are using her for their own ends,” remarks Valmuci. “She only backed out of WHC because of political pressure from people and groups around the country, but she continues to associate with and receive funds from the same Hindutva outfits that hosted the WHC. We hope that her presidential campaign provides a platform for exposing this infiltration and also the vast number of past and ongoing Hindutva crimes committed with impunity against India’s Buddhists, Christians, Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, and non-fundamentalist Hindus.”

I clicked on the link you provided but couldn't find any evidence to back up the allegation that Gabbard is a "Manchurian" candidate on behalf of Hindu Nationalists as the blog post states.

Or for that matter, any compelling cites that would put this quote into context as well:

"Gabbard is spending her time working as hard as possible to bring the Hindu nationalist agenda to American soil. Her stance is not only empowering extremists in India to continue engaging in violence against ethnic minorities there, but she’s also using her political platform to deliberately conceal the reality of the situation for Indian minorities.”

The only link cited to this story is the website for the Organization for Minorities of India which alleges that Ghandi was a sex addict who preyed on young girls.

of the WHC? This guy has been all over her. I think we know why she's running.

“Representative Gabbard’s deep ties to agents of a violent religious nationalist political party and the paramilitary groups which control it suggests that India’s supremacists have infiltrated America and are using her for their own ends,” remarks Valmuci. “She only backed out of WHC because of political pressure from people and groups around the country, but she continues to associate with and receive funds from the same Hindutva outfits that hosted the WHC. We hope that her presidential campaign provides a platform for exposing this infiltration and also the vast number of past and ongoing Hindutva crimes committed with impunity against India’s Buddhists, Christians, Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, and non-fundamentalist Hindus.”

The only link cited to this story is the website for the Organization for Minorities of India which alleges that Ghandi was a sex addict who preyed on young girls.

I believe it was around ten years ago that I started running into articles alleging that Ghandi was not exactly what our Western morality would consider pure as the driven snow. Young girls? Yes. Quite. And more than I wish go into here. A simple Internet search will bring up hundreds of articles about this. Have at it. Perhaps they are all lies, but I doubt it ... especially when alleged victims are speaking out publicly.

I clicked on the link you provided but couldn't find any evidence to back up the allegation that Gabbard is a "Manchurian" candidate on behalf of Hindu Nationalists as the blog post states.

Or for that matter, any compelling cites that would put this quote into context as well:

"Gabbard is spending her time working as hard as possible to bring the Hindu nationalist agenda to American soil. Her stance is not only empowering extremists in India to continue engaging in violence against ethnic minorities there, but she’s also using her political platform to deliberately conceal the reality of the situation for Indian minorities.”

The only link cited to this story is the website for the Organization for Minorities of India which alleges that Ghandi was a sex addict who preyed on young girls.

I went to this Al Anderson's website which you linked to. You're correct that he's no fan of Gabbard. Frankly, I didn't find that site to be all that informative. However, there is a link there that is most informative. At Anderson's blog page, there is a link to a site hosted by the Organization for Minorities of India. There is a very hard-hitting article at that site, Analyst: Hindu Nationalists Created Tulsi Gabbard’s Congressional Career that would have served your argument far better than the one you highlighted, in my opinion.

It's going to take some work to ferret out what's smoke and what's fog here, but I don't see anything that can be easily dismissed. Be it as I am no fan of Narendra Modi, and I do not even have a horse in that race (just a rather native dislike of right-wing authoritarians), I am wondering how someone with doubtless far more knowledge of "things Hindu" would seem so buddy-buddy with what are clearly hard-right politicians in India. On the face of it, it appears to be the case ... oddly enough.

But - maybe it's not so odd. Perhaps she is indeed toting someone's water. This subject begs for more investigation, as I sure don't like what I'm reading at the OFMI site. Are they simply throwing shade? Right now, and until I have more information, I don't think they are. The OFMI may be spouting total lies, or total truth, or something in between, but the case they are making against Gabbard is serious indeed. We need to know more about this.

By the way, Big Al, I started this reply to more-or-less attack your post. The more I read, I realized I had to do a 180 degree flip and rewrite it entirely.

of the WHC? This guy has been all over her. I think we know why she's running.

“Representative Gabbard’s deep ties to agents of a violent religious nationalist political party and the paramilitary groups which control it suggests that India’s supremacists have infiltrated America and are using her for their own ends,” remarks Valmuci. “She only backed out of WHC because of political pressure from people and groups around the country, but she continues to associate with and receive funds from the same Hindutva outfits that hosted the WHC. We hope that her presidential campaign provides a platform for exposing this infiltration and also the vast number of past and ongoing Hindutva crimes committed with impunity against India’s Buddhists, Christians, Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, and non-fundamentalist Hindus.”

my crap eyes to read the lemon font on black, and i hadn't watched the videos, but at least some of it tallies w/ what the progressive army's 'in defense of gabbard' opinion piece. but dagnabbit, i keep forgetting that for some reason now, hyperlinks in passages i quote from other sources don't stay hyperlinked when i cross-post. anyhoo, here's the intercept link.

"Hindu-Americans have supported Gabbard since the start of her political career, and that support has increased substantially since Modi’s election, much of it coming from Hindu nationalists.

Dozens of Gabbard’s donors have either expressed strong sympathy with or have ties to the Sangh Parivar — a network of religious, political, paramilitary, and student groups that subscribe to the Hindu supremacist, exclusionary ideology known as Hindutva, according to an Intercept analysis of Gabbard’s financial disclosures from 2011 until October 2018. We cross-checked the names of Gabbard’s donors against open-source materials linked to Sangh organizations, such as event announcements and the groups’ websites.

According to our analysis, at least 105 current and former officers and members of U.S. Sangh affiliates, and their families, have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Gabbard’s campaigns since 2011. Gabbard’s ties to Hindu nationalists in the United States run so deep that the progressive newspaper Telegraph India in 2015 christened her the Sangh’s American mascot."

OTOH, the intercept has given ocasio-cortez tons of free advertising.

but in india/kashmir, as arundhati roy indicates, it's not solely a religious-based issue, but one of class, as well, as is the guaido/maduro support variance.

of the WHC? This guy has been all over her. I think we know why she's running.

“Representative Gabbard’s deep ties to agents of a violent religious nationalist political party and the paramilitary groups which control it suggests that India’s supremacists have infiltrated America and are using her for their own ends,” remarks Valmuci. “She only backed out of WHC because of political pressure from people and groups around the country, but she continues to associate with and receive funds from the same Hindutva outfits that hosted the WHC. We hope that her presidential campaign provides a platform for exposing this infiltration and also the vast number of past and ongoing Hindutva crimes committed with impunity against India’s Buddhists, Christians, Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, and non-fundamentalist Hindus.”

my crap eyes to read the lemon font on black, and i hadn't watched the videos, but at least some of it tallies w/ what the progressive army's 'in defense of gabbard' opinion piece. but dagnabbit, i keep forgetting that for some reason now, hyperlinks in passages i quote from other sources don't stay hyperlinked when i cross-post. anyhoo, here's the intercept link.

"Hindu-Americans have supported Gabbard since the start of her political career, and that support has increased substantially since Modi’s election, much of it coming from Hindu nationalists.

Dozens of Gabbard’s donors have either expressed strong sympathy with or have ties to the Sangh Parivar — a network of religious, political, paramilitary, and student groups that subscribe to the Hindu supremacist, exclusionary ideology known as Hindutva, according to an Intercept analysis of Gabbard’s financial disclosures from 2011 until October 2018. We cross-checked the names of Gabbard’s donors against open-source materials linked to Sangh organizations, such as event announcements and the groups’ websites.

According to our analysis, at least 105 current and former officers and members of U.S. Sangh affiliates, and their families, have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Gabbard’s campaigns since 2011. Gabbard’s ties to Hindu nationalists in the United States run so deep that the progressive newspaper Telegraph India in 2015 christened her the Sangh’s American mascot."

OTOH, the intercept has given ocasio-cortez tons of free advertising.

but in india/kashmir, as arundhati roy indicates, it's not solely a religious-based issue, but one of class, as well, as is the guaido/maduro support variance.

ilhan omar, et.al. but oh, as per the 'leftist blogs': hero of the week 'omar's Qs to elliot abrams were magnificent!' not so much compared to what she'd acquiesced to, as per the true leftist twittersphere.

i'd been racking my brain to remember what other group's all about global revolution, tried unicorn riot and a few others...just can't find it. i'd even checked w/ the estimable rebelutionary z for clues. tho't you might have advised that site.

but as craig murray is wont to say: 'look where they don't want you to look'. and yes, i'm thinking of 'brands', especially, although he hadn't been.

#2.3prepared after weeks of discussion? It's about as disingenuous a letter as they could get. Of course it is.

‘Violence breeds more violence in Kashmir, As the militarisation of Kashmir has grown, so have victimisation and radicalisation, 8 hrs ago, ather zia, al jazeera (a few excerpts)

"Slogans that rent the air in Jammu, the predominantly Hindu province of Indian-administered Kashmir, include "shoot the traitor Kashmiris". Mobs in the area attacked Muslim neighbourhoods and set their cars on fire. Reports of similar violence against Muslim Kashmiris, including students and businesspeople, are on the rise across Indian cities as well. The clamour for revenge for the attack is high; the drums of war are beating."
(i'd forgotten this past travesty)

"The Indian strategy in Kashmir has always been about managing Kashmiri resistance to integration with India. While human rights abuses by the Indian forces have been persistent, starting in 2014 when Modi was elected, they have intensified in brutality and frequency. Young people expressing their dissent have been routinely harassed and incarcerated. The use of the Public Safety Act (PSA), denounced as the "lawless law" by Amnesty International, has been rampant. The number of political prisoners in Kashmir is in the thousands and they include juveniles who have no legal protection."

"The use of pellet guns for crowd control has also intensified, which led to what is now known as the world's first case of mass blinding. Among the wounded and blinded Kashmiris have been women and young children.

In 2017, the Indian home ministry approved Operation All Out, which is a joint counterinsurgency offensive between different sections of the Indian armed forces to crack down on Kashmiri resistance. As a result, there was an increase in killings of both combatants and civilians, cordon and search operations, incarcerations, and censorship."

"In June 2018, the UN Human Rights Office released a report taking account of the situation in the region of Kashmir on both sides of the Line of Control, but especially focusing on Indian brutality in Kashmir. The outgoing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein stated: "The political dimensions of the dispute between India and Pakistan have long been centre-stage, but this is not a conflict frozen in time. It is a conflict that has robbed millions of their basic human rights, and continues to this day to inflict untold suffering."

this is a 2007 counter currents explanation of the evil Jammu And Kashmir Public Safety Act-1978. a few excerpts from hashimi:

"One of the most draconian laws applicable in Jammu and Kashmir, Public Safety Act (PSA), that is being liberally used as a repressive measure to scuttle any dissent, often also for victimising innocent youth, ironically finds its roots in the Defence of India Act (DIA) during the British rule. In fact, the PSA happens to be a more punitive form of the DIA that was described by various National leaders including Mahatma Gandhi as draconian and a black law enacted by Britishers to suppress Indian freedom struggle."
.........................
"A legal expert on the condition of anonymity said that the Act was promulgated in 1978 (amended in 1987 and 1990) in Jammu and Kashmir empowering the state government to detain a person without trial for two years under the pretext of maintenance of public order. He added that even the provisions of the Act, though already unsatisfactory, have been consistently violated.

Legal experts say that PSA, which operates in Jammu and Kashmir, differs from the act operating in rest of the country. They maintain that Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act-1978 (JKPSA-1978) was amended in the year 1990 which made it possible for extending the operation of the act beyond the State, enabling the State machinery to keep detainees in the jails of India, outside the State."

written up 'Legalized Tyranny: India’s Armed Forces Special Powers Act for Kashmir and Jammu'

in june of 2016, it was described even more barbarically by hasnaht sheik at dissident voice, in part:

"AFSPA, one of the most dreaded words in a Kashmiri’s vocabulary, is not less then a curse on the population of the occupied territory. Conventionally applied in “disturbed areas” of the Indian federation, the provisions of the act empower their Army personnel to shoot and use force, even to the extent to kill anyone that they consider is acting in contravention with law and order. Further, it allows them to arrest any person on the basis of suspicion and to enter any building or stop and search any vehicle, all without any warrant.

A provision of this law also requires all arrested people to be handed over to the nearest police station with a report on the circumstances of the arrest, but the more than 8,000 enforced disappearances in Kashmir from 1989 to 2009 speak volumes on the implementation of this provision."

i dug up another one about modi and the usa as new bbf's; i'll comb thru it to see what's applicable here beyond the LRMOA.

anyone that thinks a full-scale war between these two won't go nuke is delusional. Oh, RIGHT! We're talking about bolton-shave that fuckers' moustache and take his nose with it.
With a Rusty razor even!

anyone that thinks a full-scale war between these two won't go nuke is delusional. Oh, RIGHT! We're talking about bolton-shave that fuckers' moustache and take his nose with it.
With a Rusty razor even!

i'd still like to offer a closing song from my 2016 'Legalized Tyranny: India’s Armed Forces Special Powers Act for Kashmir and Jammu' report.

tonight (depending on you time zone, la luna bella is full, and she and gazing at the stars and planets overhead, perhaps even the milky way, reminds me again that...we are all made of stardust. queer how humans don't think that that should be the Ruling Principle, isn't it?

"Here in Pakistan, I am anxious to avoid the journalists’ disease of claiming expertise on a country after a few days. But it has been very instructive, and I am impressed by the start Imran Khan has made to addressing the complex and intractable problems that have hamstrung this state of 200 million talented people. Every Pakistani government has claimed to be making efforts to tackle corruption, and the colossal misapplication of state funds, and pretty well every government has been lying about that. But Imran Khan does seem to be fighting the hydra, and with an extraordinary level of application – I heard yesterday direct and separately from a Federal Minister and a Provincial Governor examples of how remarkably closely Khan is following their work. "

"Delighted to be back in Edinburgh after a fascinating three weeks in Pakistan. I left Pakistan two days after the Kashmir flare-up and just as Mohammed Bin Salman arrived, and you will be hearing my thoughts on this much neglected but vital country further over the next few days."